Wednesday, December 30, 2015

review || CAUGHT BY YOU { blog tour } by Jennifer Bernard

Love comes out of left field in the second novel in USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Bernard's sexy baseball-themed series...

Months of alternately flirting and bickering with Kilby Catfish catcher Mike Solo just turned into the hottest kiss of Donna MacIntyre's life—and that's a major league complication. Any hint of scandal could keep her from getting her son back from her well-connected ex. Then Mike comes up with a game-changing idea: a marriage proposal that could help win her case—even as it jeopardizes her heart.

Mike hasn't been able to get the gorgeous, gutsy redhead out of his fantasies. The least he can do is fix the mess he helped create. Yet their engagement is quickly becoming about a lot more than doing the right thing. Because after swearing he'd never risk love again, Mike has found a passion that puts all his emotions in play, and a woman he'll go to bat for again and again.

{ about jennifer bernard } .

Jennifer Bernard is a graduate of Harvard and a former news promo producer. The child of academics, she confounded her family by preferring romance novels to … well, any other books. She left big city life for true love in Alaska, where she now lives with her husband and stepdaughters. She’s no stranger to book success, as she also writes erotic novellas under a naughty secret name not to be mentioned at family gatherings.

{ excerpt } .

He ran a hand through the rough curls at the back of his head. “I have to confess something.” His Catholic-boy conscience had been tugging at him this whole time. “Only a couple of those library books are mine. Mostly they’re my neighbor’s. He’s house-bound, so I pick up books for him.”

Amusement lit up her little heart-shaped face. “Your confession is that you don’t read big piles of books, and that you go to the library for your neighbor? I’m crushed. I was thinking there was a secret genius hidden inside that ripped body.”

“Maybe I was trying to impress you. We’ve been dancing around each other all season. Don’t you want to see if there’s anything to this chemistry?”

Her eyes widened. “Here? Are you trying to add public indecency to all those fines?”

“Just a kiss. One kiss. There’s nothing indecent about a kiss.”

She considered that for a long moment, while a pleasant tension rose between them. Finally she seemed to make up her mind. She took a step forward, brushing against him.

“Nothing indecent, Priest? I’ve got news for you.”

“What’s that?”

“There is if you do it right.” And she lifted her mouth to his.

{ review } .

While a standalone, I do feel that it is important to have read the first book, ALL OF ME, prior to reading this one. There were many times in the beginning I felt lost -- that I was an onlooker to a years' long play -- and I had read the first book.

The chemistry between Mike and Donna isn't new -- and their fun banter and flirting is definitely evidence of that. Putting aside the brief moments I felt that they were simply too familiar with one another for the fact we were only on the fifth page of the book... their story was a great one to read.

I loved Solo (...Mike). I loved his vow of celibacy and how even his priest told him it was slightly ridiculous. Equally, though, I loved that Donna wasn't about the vow -- and how at the end of the season, she wasn't going to just lie back for him and with that fact, there was a brief jump in time, allowing for even more growth between the characters.

Donna's battles in this story were extremely real, and I found that it was an extremely realistic, relatable occurrence. As such, I found her parenting and the changes she made in her life to be things that any female reader could sympathize with.

I found the emotion, banter, and humor in this book to be definitely in Bernard fashion (if you've read her firefighter books, you definitely have read these things before). I would have liked to have more solid ground at the beginning, though -- like I said, I read the previous book but it had been quite some time since doing just that, so I felt that the beginning was incredibly quick and left me a little lost.

1 comment:

a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

GOODREADS updates

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

TOURING with ...

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FTC Disclosure

Unless otherwise stated, all books I review are books I've received for free from the author or publisher. I receive nothing, monetary or otherwise, for expressing my opinion and/or promoting the books. I do, however, participate in the Amazon Affiliate program, and as such I do receive a small commission when these links are clicked. Affiliate links and free books in no way affect my opinion.